


Into the Abyss

by Tangerine_Catnip



Series: She is the Future of Humans and Monsters [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adult Frisk, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comedy, Demons, F/M, Female Frisk, Mystery, POV Third Person Omniscient, Sans backstory, cosmic horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-04-28 20:59:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5105570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine_Catnip/pseuds/Tangerine_Catnip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk has been kidnapped and taken to the bottom of the gigantic chasm boarding the outskirts of the underground. It’s up to her friends to journey into the unknown and get her back. Only, it might not be so unknown to one of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Keenest form of Fascination

Everyone knew King Asgore sucked at naming things. Partially, it was a lack of creativity. But mostly it was just king fluffy-buns being a touch too literal minded. Is this place full of snow? Call it Snowdin. Is this place full of water? Waterfall. Is this place full of lava? Hotland.

But there was one place in the underground where Asgore's naming strategy paid off. Even if Asgore had creativity leaking out of his earholes he couldn't have named this chasm anything more appropriate.

The Abyss was deep, dark, and stretched from one side of the underground to the other. It measured nearly fifty kilometers long and the gods only knew how deep. Few monsters had ever braved the depths. Those that did could only scale the sheer cliff face for so long before turning back or falling to their death.

Sans leaned forward. His glowing white eyes staring down into the impenetrable blackness. Even with his magically enhanced night vision, he could only make out the first few hundred meters before the inky blackness became impenetrable.

It was hard to believe she could really be down there. Just yesterday, they had been running around Toriel's back garden, taking cheap shots at each other with water pistols, and now…

Sans could remember every hour since they had last said goodbye. Each horrible event that followed was time stamped in his memory.

Ten hours since Papyrus had woken him up at four in the morning. Nine and a half since finding Toriel crying at the kitchen table. Eight since they had found the distinctive paw prints leading into the underground. Six since tracing them to the mouth of The Abyss.

Many already feared the worst. Everyone knew there was no safe path down the side of the chasm. So what reason could anyone have to bring Frisk here besides a cruel method of execution?

No monster could harm Frisk in a fair fight, but even she was helpless against the force of gravity and a sudden stop.

If it was a case of assassination, it would be the first in monster history. Even the most hated of leaders were removed from the palace peacefully, or left of their own accord. The very idea that someone would kill a prominent public figure, especially a soon-to-be princess with a purely ceremonial claim to the throne, was unthinkable. A shared loss like that would utterly destroy the harmony and hope that all monsters depended on.

Even worse. This would be the third royal child to vanish from right before their eyes. Tearing open a wound hundreds of years old.

The shock would last for a few more days. Then the darkness would creep in. As if the whole kingdom had been thrown into The Abyss with their princess.

But for sans, that was just one reason among many he needed to get her back as soon as possible.

He knew she was still alive. The tracks had been too easy to follow. The black dust around Frisk's empty bed distributed too evenly to be a mistake.

Whoever had captured Frisk would need her alive. If only to make sure their trap had fresh bait.

"saaaaaans!"

The sound of his name being called cut through sans' train of thought. Even from far away his brother's voice was too distinctive to mistake.

It was a few more seconds before the tall skeleton came into view. Rounding around the base of one of the mounds of trash washed up from Waterfall. Toriel was right behind him and after her, Undyne and Alphys. Everyone looked like they were packed to go on a weeklong hike. Papyrus and Toriel had huge backpacks with pots, pans, cooking utensils, and jars of pasta sauce hanging off the side.

Alphys was covered from head to tail in wearable gadgetry. Ranging from the vaguely dangerous looking to the very dangerous looking. While Undyne was wearing lightweight studded leather armor and a huge angry grin.

Sans waited for them to get close before replying. Shouting wasn't really his thing.

"Papyrus. What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here?' I brought our backup. For our daring rescue mission!"

Papyrus gestured behind him. Toriel gave a tiny wave and Undyne lifted her energy spear over her head in a salute.

"I know you said 'don't tell anyone where I'm going and don't follow me.'" Papyrus admitted. "But typically when people say that, what they actually mean is, 'this journey will be very dangerous and life threatening and I feel too guilty to ask for the help I desperately need. So could you please go round up our friends for me Papyrus? My favoritest brother in the whole wide world.'"

"No." sans said. Looking his brother strait in the eye sockets.

"No... What?" Papyrus asked.

"You heard me papyrus. No. None of you are coming with me."

"The heck were not!" Undyne shouted, striding over to the two brothers alarmingly fast. "Listen here, if you think for one second I'm not going to march down there and throttle whoever or whatever took Frisk then you're crazy. I don't care what it takes, or who I have to stab into a fine powder."

Papyrus gently nudged Undyne so she wasn't yelling directly into sans' face. Though, the shorter skeleton hadn't even flinched at the sudden verbal assault.

"sans, you can't really mean that. We have to go with you. We need to save Frisk together." Papyrus pleaded.

"-And we're going into The Abyss, with or without you. So you better come with us." Undyne added.

Sans shrugged and looked over his shoulder at the gigantic crack in the earth just beyond where they were standing.

"There's no way down. Everyone knows that." He said.

"I'll make a way!" Undyne yelled, waving her glowing spear dangerously close to the shorter brother. It would have chopped off a bit of sans' nose if he had one.

"How? Tunnel through the ground? Climb down miles of flat rock?" sans asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"sans, please, this is really serious." Papyrus said.

"I know it's serious!" sans snapped. The flash of uncharacteristic anger changing his demeanor drastically. His posture straightened from his usual lazy slouch and his shoulders were tense.

"That's why I'm not letting you mess around playing royal guard when Frisk is in danger. None of you have a plan, or even know what the hell is waiting for you. If you keep going like this, somebody is going to get hurt."

Papyrus winced when sans mentioned the royal guard. sans felt a prick of guilt for throwing that old ambition in his younger brother's face, but sometimes even the great Papyrus needed a wakeup call. Sans took a deep breath. Regaining most of his calm.

"This isn't a game where everyone gets to join in and have a turn rescuing the captured princess. Frisk is really down there and she's in real danger. We need to do whatever has the highest chance of saving her. Not what sounds like it would be a cool adventure."

Papyrus stared down at his bright orange boots. Undyne looked like she had just swallowed a bug.

"What? Are you seriously saying you think you have a better chance of rescuing her alone?" she asked.

"Absolutely." Sans replied, shrugging off the incredulity in Undyne's voice.

"sans?" Toriel said.

As the queen of the monsters approached, papyrus and Undyne stepped aside. Even Undyne's hot blood cooled to a simmer in the presence of Toriel's easy self-assurance.

"Are you really sure that it's better you to go alone? I'm not questioning your judgement, I just want us all to stop and think about this." Toriel explained.

This was the moment sans had been dreading. He could take papyrus' disappointment and Undyne's anger. But his defenses always failed him when faced with the pure kindness and integrity of the monster queen.

"Undyne and Papyrus are two of the strongest fighters I've seen in my long life, Alphys is a brilliant inventor, and while I may be an old woman, I'm still a boss monster with centuries of magic practice under my belt."

Toriel lifted a hand, summoning a ball of fire that burned so hot the center glowed translucent blue. Behind her Alphys and Papyrus looked slightly embarrassed by the queen's praise. Undyne simply nodded her agreement.

"-And even if none of that counts for anything. If you aren't able to bring Frisk back on your own, and we aren't able to mount our own attempt. Hope will be lost. If you can guarantee me that you can bring Frisk back, then I will stand aside. But I'd sooner put my faith in many small chances then one best option."

Toriel finished her speech with a calm gaze. Everyone else turned to look at sans as well. Waiting to see if he would be moved. Sans' poker face was as impassable as ever, but you could tell he was thinking. The silence had that kind of weight to it.

"No. I can't guarantee it." Sans admitted. He broke eye contact with Toriel and turned his back to her. He took a few steps toward the chasm, loose rocks crunching under the soft sole of his slippers.

He looked behind a moment later. Giving the other monsters a quizzical look.

"So, are you guys coming or what?" he asked.

Papyrus grinned and ran over to his brother. The others followed as well, falling into formation behind Toriel.

"I knew you would change your mind!" Papyrus said, resting a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah. And I'm sorry about what I said about you playing royal guard Pap."

"No. I think you were right. I was thinking about this like it was an adventure. I promise I'll be serious from now on."

Undyne elbowed her way between the two brothers mid-conversation.

"Hey as awesome as it is that we're all working together. How exactly are we planning to climb into this huge frikin chasm?" she asked.

Everyone looked at sans again.

"We take the stairs." He answered simply.

Before anyone could ask, sans strode over to a large bolder teetering on the edge of the chasm. He used the sleeve of his hoodie to rub at the dirt coating the rough rock. The other monsters gathered around to watch. Their eyes growing wide as symbols carved into the side of the rock began to take shape as the mud was rubbed out of the narrow grooves.

"Are those some kind of hieroglyphics?" Alphys asked, grabbing Undyne's shoulders and pulling herself up to get a better look. "I've never seen that dialect before."

Undyne kneeled down and boosted Alphys up in a piggy back. She blushed, but was so focused on the emerging letters that she soon forgot about the awkward position.

"There's a lot of characters I don't recognise. They look like ancient monster writings, but all the characters are just slightly off. " Alphys continued. She reached out a claw and pointed to a symbol near the top of a straight line of hieroglyphics. Four dots arranged in a rectangle and enclosing a triangle.

"This one is very similar to the theta rune. Which references the gateway between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Then there's this one. It's just like the epsilon rune. Which usually refers to a messenger."

The next rune down was a crude pictogram of a standing bird, its head turned to watch the viewer. The line of hieroglyphics continued on until it reached a large circle with a faded imprint of a skeletal hand in the center.

"If I had to guess. I think it's telling us that we can't pass through unless guided by a messenger of some kind." Alphys concluded.

"Yeah, right. Whoever wrote this junk is probably long dead. " Undyne muttered.

"Well, actually-"

Papyrus never got to finish his sentence. sans pressed his hand against the imprint in the rock and the markings started to glow. Growing brighter and brighter with every pulse of light. It looked like a warning signal on the back of a truck.

Sans backed away slowly and the rest of his companions followed his lead. They retreated a good ten feet before the rock started to shake. At first it seemed like an earthquake, but the vibrations were clearly coming from the rock alone.

It shook faster and faster. Then exploded in a shower of dirt and dust. The monsters that had eyes lifted their hands to shield them from the shrapnel.

But instead of falling to the ground, the rock shards hung in mid-air. As if moved by an invisible hand, the pieces began stacking one on top of the other into columns. The pieces lined up perfectly when stacked in the correct order.

The two towers begin to lean and met in the middle. Forming a huge stone archway. The rocks glowed and pulsed and the cracks between them shrunk until they became a single section of unbroken stone.

The sound of rock grinding against rock filled the air. This time it really was the ground shaking. Toriel cried out and grabbed Papyrus, who grabbed sans and Undyne, who grabbed Alphys. The five of them clung together. Sharing the mutual terror of those who knew what it was like to be underground in an earthquake.

Fortunately, it wasn't strong enough to cause a cave in. After five long minutes it eased and stopped.

"What the hell was that?" Undyne breathed.

"Some kind of magic. It had to be. But who was casting it?" Alphys wondered aloud.

Quite a few sideways glances were directed at sans.

"Wasn't me. The spell must have been inside the rock." Sans Fsaid. He started towards the gate, dragging papyrus, and by extension the rest of the party, behind him.

"That's… inanimate objects can't control magic. That's not…"

Alphys' stunned stammering trailed off as the party got close to the edge. Large, perfectly square pieces of rock were protruding from the cliff face. One after the other and each a little lower than the last. Together they formed a gigantic staircase that spanned the cliff face and kept going past the limits of visibility.

"See, stairs." Sans said. He wiggled out of Papyrus' hold, walked through the archway, and took the first step down onto the stone steps.

"Come on then. We don't really have any time to waste." Sans called.

"Are we... sure it's safe?" Toriel asked.

"Yeah. Solid as a rock. Just stay close to the side of the cliff. Whoever designed this thing apparently hadn't heard of safety railings." Sans replied.

They lined up one by one. Sans taking the lead, Toriel behind him, then Papyrus, then Alphys. While Undyne took up the rear.

"Man, it sure is lucky none of us are afraid of heights, Hun?" Papyrus observed.

"Y-yeah…" Alphys squeaked. Both her hands were pressed flat against the stone cliff, but there wasn't anything to hold on to. Undyne released her energy spear, letting it fizzle out of existence. She rested her right hand on Alphys' shoulder, giving her a tight squeeze.

"Papyrus. I'll admit that I didn't actually believe you when you said your brother knew a way into The Abyss. So that's why I didn't ask you sooner. But, how exactly does he know?" Undyne asked.

"Oh, that's easy, we were born down there."

"You what!" Alphys yelled, missing a step in her shock and nearly falling down the stairs before Undyne grabbed her around the middle.

Alphys knew she should be more concerned she almost fell, but she was still too shocked by what she just heard.

"You can't mean. There are monsters who live in The Abyss?" Alphys asked.

"Yep, that's where skeletons come from! That's why sans and I are the only ones around." Papyrus said.

Alphys thought this over. She hadn't actually found the fact there were no other Skeletons that unusual. So many species of monsters had been lost in the war, that it was fairly common to find only one or two members of a given genus. Since monsters could produce offspring together no matter the type, it never really became an issue.

"They're called 'The Dark Ones'." Toriel said. Drawing the attention of the monsters behind her in the line.

"The dark ones?" Alphys asked.

"Yes. Asgore named them. It's a kind of royal family secret. We decided centuries ago not to let the general population know of their existence. We were worried it would scare them." Toriel explained.

"Why? There's nothing to be scared of? We're not scary." Papyrus interjected.

"Oh, I know you're not, dear. But you know how rumors spread. It was bad enough being banished underground. We didn't want everyone to worry that our home was built next to the home of a type of monster that we knew nothing about. The only time we ever had contact with them was back when we were looking for allies for the war. Asgore's father managed to arrange a meeting at the summit of Mt Ebbot. They wore cloaks and masks so he never saw what they looked like."

"I'm guessing they didn't actually help." Undyne said. Her tone indicating she knew just how these stories went.

"No." Toriel agreed. "He couldn't convince them the humans were worth fighting. They prefer to live underground and never came into conflict with them. Sometimes I wonder if that's where the humans got the idea to lock us under the same mountain."

Papyrus frowned. He hadn't heard that story before. Until now, he had thought everyone knew about the residents of The Abyss.

"I don't really remember anything about what it's like down there. I was only a baby bones when we moved." Papyrus admitted. "sans remembers a little more, but he doesn't like to talk about it."

Attention shifted back to the front of the line. sans was setting an even pace, one step at a time. His eye lights fixed on where he was going to put his foot next. He noticed the pause and glanced over his shoulder, taking in the curious faces of his friends.

"There's not a lot to say that Tori didn't mention." Sans said with a shrug. "Other skeletons have left The Abyss before. But we don't talk about it. They like to have their privacy down there."

"Well, maybe they should have thought about that before they kidnapped our princess and my friend." Undyne growled.

"But I can't shake the feeling that this doesn't make any sense." Toriel said. "The underground and The Abyss existed side by side for centuries without incident. We've nearly finished moving the city to the surface. Why would they suddenly decide to attack us?"

Her question hung in the air. sans stopped dead in his tracks, halting the monsters behind him as well.

"I don't think…. That it had anything to do with Frisk being a princess." He said slowly. Keeping his back to the rest of the party.

For a moment, no one said anything. They were waiting to see if sans would explain. Eventually, Papyrus piped up.

"sans?"

"Look. It's going to be a long walk. We're going to have to make camp at some point. It's better if you're sitting down when I tell you, and it makes a good ghost story anyway."

* * *

 

It was typical of Frisk that while she was being paraded down the streets in chains, all she could think about was the architecture of this brand new city and its strange inhabitants.

The narrow roadways and buildings were all made out of a dusty black stone. Probably volcanic in origin. Frisk's feet were bare, an unfortunate side effect of being kidnaped directly from bed, and so she could feel how soft the stone she was walking on really was.

They were down too far for sunlight to filter through. So the only light came from lampposts housing purple crystals that bathed the city in a blueish-purple glow.

The houses and shops didn't have windows and could only be told apart by the pictographic engravings above each door. Well, if you considered curtains of black cloth to be doors. Materials down here must have been scarce, since that cloth also made up the clothing the citizens of this city wore.

The figures holding the metal chains around Frisk's wrists wore it in long flowing robes that obscured every part of their bodies and hid their faces under hoods.

Frisk knew they were skeleton monsters though. Spending the last decade and a half of her life around sans and Papyrus, she recognised the style of walking humanoids without skin or muscles possessed. Then there was the way loose fabric draped over bare bones. Though, that second one was mostly a side effect of prolonged staring at sans' hipbone and ribcage when she thought he wasn't looking.

The outfits of the citizens not directly participating in her kidnapping didn't hide their identities. There were personal touches, like aprons or necklaces, and some of the children even had their hoods down.

The crowds parted to let them pass without a single word said by the skeletons in front. Mothers pulled little ones indoors as they passed. But most seemed content to stand by the side of the road and watch. Frisk even saw a few bow their heads in her direction.

It felt like a symbol of respect. Hopefully, it wasn't the kind of respect given to innocent young virgins before they're tossed into volcanos.

With everyone watching her, Frisk was growing more self-conscious of her attire. In addition to her missing shoes, she was dressed only in her nightgown. It was a nice nightgown mind. A Christmas present from Toriel with long sleeves and a ruffled bodice, but it was also very clearly a nightgown and not just a painfully plain white dress.

Though given the prominence of black dust on the streets, in the air, and on her kidnappers, it probably wouldn't be white for much longer.

"Hey, are we there yet? My feet are starting to hurt." Frisk asked.

As expected, neither of the two skeletons leading her acknowledged her question. Frisk was starting to wonder if they could even speak her language. This whole city looked like it hadn't reached a technological level much higher than the medieval era. So modern English might be something they hadn't heard before.

The further they walked into the city, the denser and more tightly packed it became. It was hard to see with only the dim crystals to light the way. So Frisk didn't notice the cathedral until it was looming over her.

Besides its gigantic scale, the cathedral stood apart from the rest of the dusty buildings because of the rock it was made of. Each obsidian stone was perfectly cut and shined as brightly as the surface of a lake. As if, somewhere deep in its core, it remembered when it was lava and still flowed freely.

Everything, from the huge pillars that held up the massive stone roof, to the stairs leading up to the archway entrance, was made of obsidian. Frisk had to watch herself on the steps, so the sharp edges didn't cut open the bottoms of her feet.

More skeletons in full black robes were gathered inside. There was plenty of space in the huge open room leading up to a stone altar and pulpit at the far end. But the skeletons pressed themselves against the walls regardless. Giving the small procession as wide a birth as possible.

From the inside Frisk could see the cathedral had stained glass windows. Bringing the total number of building materials she had seen up to four.

Like in churches on the surface, the windows seemed to illustrate moments in a shared religious history. But without a frame of reference, Frisk had no idea what they were trying to depict. The only two thematic elements that were clear where the skeleton monsters, and some floating black entity who was lurking in the background of every scene. Usually hanging close to the skeleton in the fancy robes that the others were bowing to.

The cathedral lacked pews, but Frisk was walked in a straight line anyway. Right up the middle until they reached the altar. It was made of a single piece of obsidian and was sheltered under a golden dome. The pillars holding it up had gargoyle like statues carved into them. They caught the eye because they were one of the only white things Frisk had seen since entering the black city.

No one seemed to be paying her much attention. They were waiting for something. So Frisk pulled herself up onto her tiptoes to get a better look. That shape reminded her of an animal skull, with the two empty eye sockets and pincer-like jaw. Where had she seen it before?

The sound of footsteps filled the hall. Compared to the silence of the cathedral they sounded like thunderclaps. Frisk was forced to give up her examinations and turned to see the new arrival.

He was dressed in black robes like all the rest, but the fall of the fabric suggested a frame a great deal bigger than a skeleton had any right to be. He was taller than Papyrus, with broad shoulders and tree-truck torso. But his intimidating size was undercut by the hump in his back and the silver topped staff he was leaning on.

He moved slowly but purposefully towards Frisk. Alternating between putting his weight onto the staff and moving his feet.

Frisk was so distracted that she didn't notice her skeleton escorts were unbinding her arms until she felt the chains give way. When she looked the two figures hurried away from her and into the crowd of others.

Frisk was far too practical of a woman to let an escape chance pass her by. Even if she was dying of curiosity.

The only thing standing between her and the open doors of the cathedral was the limping skeleton. Frisk took a step forward and broke into a sprint.

The limping skeleton didn't pause his stride. Seemingly unperturbed as Frisk rocketed by him. Her bare feet pounding against the polished stone floor.

She had hardly made it three steps passed when she felt the distinctive tug of her soul being pulled from her body. The red heart appeared in a flash, turned blue, and dropped. It clattered to the floor with a sound like breaking glass.

Frisk went one way while her soul stayed in place. The tether between the two snapped taught and Frisk stumbled and fell. She hit the floor on her shoulder and rolled, the tightness in her chest growing more and more painful with every inch outside her range she got.

With as much dignity as she could muster, Frisk pushed herself up and regained her footing. Her gravity bound soul started gliding along the floor towards her.

Frisk knew better than to think it would be that easy. so she was ready when the first wave of bone-shaped magic constructs blocked the way.

The blue heart leapt just managed to clear a cluster of them. Frisk looked up. The limping skeleton was looking right at her and she could see under his hood. His skull was cracked along the cheekbone, all the way from his eye socket to his jaw. Some kind of black goo was keeping the two pieces of bone fastened together.

Frisk took a huge step back. There was something wrong with this monster. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the sense of dread creeping over her was more than convincing enough to start planning a second escape attempt.

If she could get her soul out in front of her, she could keep an eye on it and run at the same time. Frisk fainted left with her soul, then turned and went the other way. The trick didn't work and another volley of bones bared down on her. They were too tall, even for her best jump. So Frisk was forced to backtrack and nearly ran into a second wave coming from behind.

Frisk saw what was happening, but was helpless to stop it. The bone wall cut off her last escape route and circled around her soul. They closed in, preventing even the smallest possibility of escaping through the gaps.

Frisk braced herself and rammed her soul against the magic barrier. Gritting her teeth hard as the damage sunk in, her spirit weakening. But instead of going through the bones, her soul bounced and was pushed back. Panic sparked and Frisk launched herself into it again. Throwing everything she had into breaking through. Blue met white and Frisk screamed. She clutched at her chest. But the pain wasn't in her body. It was in her soul. She couldn't do anything about it.

The limping skeleton turned away from her. His gaze lifted like a weight from Frisk's shoulders, but it was a small comfort when her soul was trapped. The circle of bones shifted and Frisk moved her soul along with them. Trying to keep clear so she wouldn't touch the sides by accident. Eventually she had to walk back towards the altar. Led like a dog on a leash.

Frisk closed her eyes. Now would be a really, really, great time to load her last save. She would just love to see if those stupid skeleton dog things could catch her if they didn't have the element of surprise. But every time she reached for her file, something slapped her away. She could still save, but she really didn't want to at the moment.

Suddenly being unable to access her powers after a decade of relying on them as a safety net was surreal to say the least. Frisk suspected the full impact of it had yet to sink in, because it was actually pretty terrifying if she stopped to think about it for a few minutes.

Lucky there was so much going on she hadn't had the opportunity.

"I'm sorry for the rough treatment inflicted on your vessel, your grace."

It took Frisk a moment to realize it was the limping skeleton who spoke. His voice sounded like a broken garburator crossed with a snake and filled with static noise that almost completely drowned out the words.

Frisk looked around to see who he was talking to, but none of the other skeletons were anywhere near them. They were all diverting their eyes to the floor or some other distant point.

Silence settled down around them. No one spoke and no one moved. Besides Frisk's soul, gently bobbing up and down as it tried to become airborne again.

"Hey, you know, if you really feel sorry about it you could always let me go." Frisk suggested.

The limping skeleton turned on his heel. Catching Frisk in his burning gaze. He lifted his staff and pointed the sharp metal bit right at her chest.

"I was not talking to you, worm!" he roared. The increase in volume made the static grow to a fever high pitch. Frisk clamped her hands over her ears but it was too late to stop the throbbing behind her temples.

The blissful silence returned, but Frisk kept her hands over her ears. The limping skeleton seemed satisfied with her punishment. He lifted both hands into the air and turned his face towards the sky. As he spoke the other skeletons repeated his words, making them echo through the whole of the cathedral.

"Chara. You who walk between worlds, you who bestow your gifts unto us, you who shall witness the beginning and the end of all things. We call on you, if you can, speak to us."

Chara? Frisk had heard that name before. That was the name of Asriel's adopted sibling. Toriel hand mentioned once that the two of them looked very similar when they were children. It wouldn't be the first time someone mixed them up.

But that couldn't really be it, could it? A case of mistaken identity? What on earth did they want with Chara even if he was still alive?

Frisk didn't speak up again. They waited collectively for what felt like an eternity until finally the limping skeleton spoke again.

"It seems the vessel has such control that Chara cannot speak."

His poisonous gaze shifted to the other skeletons.

"Fetch the mirror and Verdana. It's time for her to pay for her failures."

Several of the nearest skeletons scurried away, without even pausing to acknowledge they heard the order.

Suspecting she was going to be here for a while, Frisk sat down on the stone floor. One positive of being stuck in her nightgown was that it was pretty warm. Toriel had read an article once about the negative side effects of being cold in your sleep. So most of the nightclothes she bought were made of thick flannel.

The mirror appeared first. Or at least Frisk was guessing it was a mirror. It was covered in that black cloth. But the shape and the movement of the skeletons carrying it gave it away.

Frisk expected them to take it to the limping skeleton, but they were actually heading towards her. Frisk wondered if she should get up and try to move away.

So far, not playing along hadn't really worked out. She didn't really want to find out what they might do to stop her from moving all-together.

The mirror and its shroud were propped up beside her. It was full length and square, like it had been taken from a particularly fancy dress shop. It sure didn't look all that threatening. The limping skeleton drew close, grabbed one corner of the shroud, and pulled it back.

Frisk found herself looking into the reflection of her eyes. Brown just like always. As she suspected, her cheeks were smudged with black dust, and her hair was so messy it had passed Bedhead several miles ago and was deep into the backwoods of 'stuck your head into a blender and slammed the liquefy button' county.

Predictably the glass was not actually glass at all. But more obsidian, polished to a perfect shine.

Then Frisk noticed something strange. She was not feeling particularly happy at the moment, but her refection was smiling. It was a cheery kind of smile that didn't reach her eyes. It was so fake it seemed like a crude pencil drawing.

Frisk reeled backwards and jumped to her feet. The reflection stayed kneeling on the ground. Mirror-Frisk scanned her surroundings. Regular Frisk felt something behind her and wheeled around to find the limping skeleton standing behind her. He was right in front of the mirror, but his reflection didn't appear beside hers.

"Zalgo…"

The reflection spoke. Her voice sounded just like Frisk's, but spoken at a distance or through a pain of glass. Frisk had heard herself on recordings a few times. It always sounded different than what she heard when she spoke, but at least she could remember speaking the words in the first place.

"-You failed me."

There was no anger in Mirror-Frisk's voice. Or any emotion at all really.

"Yes, your grace. I have. We have all failed you. The only defense I can offer, is that only one of us is guilty of doing so willingly." The limping Skeleton replied.

Frisk had been so distracted by her independent reflection, she hadn't noticed the entrance of the first skeleton not dressed in black robes. She had on a full length lab coat over a blue turtleneck sweater and simple beige pants.

At Zaglo's introduction she was pushed forward by two of the robed figures.

"This is my daughter Verdana. She was the one tasked with crafting your vessels my grace. We have reason to believe she was aware of the flaws in her design, but chose not to share them."

"My souls were perfect! I made them strong, just like you asked!" Verdana shouted. She was shaking from her skull to her ankle bones. "Compromising my design would have lowered the determination levels. You can't have determination without an identity. I only gave them a tiny piece. Just a name."

"Silence."

Mirror Frisk didn't raise her voice beyond casual conversation levels, but the single word dropped like an anvil. Verdana shut her mouth. Tears began to gather at the corners of her eye sockets. Frisk couldn't remember the last time she had seen someone so utterly terrified.

"Failure must always be punished. Regardless of fault or intent." Mirror-Frisk siad. .

"N-no!" Verdana screamed. She struggled in the hold of the other skeleton monsters, but more appeared to hold her down. She was dragged forward and shoved to the ground. The hooded skeletons kneeling and forcing her down.

"Zaglo. A knife. It's been far too long." Mirror-Frisk said. Turning to face the limping skeleton.

Zaglo's hand closed around the head of his cane. He pulled up, unsheathing a wickedly sharp silver blade from the stone handle.

Frisk felt adrenaline flowing through her. She had to do something to stop this. She kept her eyes on the knife. Zaglo was holding it out, but no one had moved to take it yet. Frisk darted forward and snatched the awful thing from him.

Zaglo didn't move to take it back. He simply bowed to Frisk and stepped away. The hilt of the dagger was cold in her hand, so cold it hurt. The sensation traveled down her arm and into her lungs. Each breath she took was cold. Everything was cold.

The spell trapping Frisk's soul vanished. The small heart turned red and bobbed back to its owner. It hovered in front of Frisk's chest, but didn't fade. She was still in a fight, only her target had changed.

Frisk screamed and tried to throw the knife away, but her fingers wouldn't obey her. They stayed locked around the handle no matter how hard she shook her arm and her hand. Then suddenly, she couldn't move her anymore.

The dim purple light reflected off the blade as Frisk held it before her.

"S-stop!" Frisk shrieked. "I won't do it, you can't make me!"

"You are in my kingdom, Frisk." The reflection replied. She stood up. The uncanny smile still perfectly plastered over her lips. "I think it's time we played by my rules."

Frisk took a step forward. Her legs felt like they were made of wooden planks. Too stiff for her to move, yet somehow, they kept walking forward. Verdana stared up at Frisk as she approached. Her struggle coming to a halt as the human stood over her, poised to strike.

Frisk ground her teeth together. This was not happening, she would not allow this to happen. There was no room for doubt, no place for fear.

Saving and loading were nice to have. But her true power was deeper than that.

"No! I won't!"

Rock cracked. Frisk herd the sound. It sparked within her, fueling her fire into an inferno. She took the tiny moment of weakness and threw the knife against the floor so hard it bounced twice.

The obsidian mirror exploded. Frisk was looking the wrong way, but the shower of shrapnel hit her full across the back. A large chunk caught her head. Then there was pain, then she was falling, then it went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So since its November-ish I decided it’s probably time I bite the bullet and try to write a fan novel. I thought about doing a standard NaNoWriMo. But then, I wouldn’t be able to post for the whole month, and I think focusing on word count would be a detriment to this story. So instead of word count I’ve got plot milestones.
> 
> If you want more details/have any questions/want updates on how it's going, hit me up on tumblr. url: tanger-catnip


	2. This is Not a Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He who speaks in hands had many toys
> 
> Gadgets and gizmos meant to bring joy
> 
> But these days he's nowhere to be found
> 
> And he's left all his playthings laying around
> 
> How irresponsible

At first, the long stone staircase seemed to be a straight path. But after an hour or so, the five monsters found a landing. Just like the stairs before, it was a shaped rock protruding from the chasm wall. Only nearly fifty times the size.

It was the perfect place to take a break from the hike. Which was probably why it was there in the first place. After a quick consultation, they decided to keep moving. No one was tired just yet.

The stairwell left the plateau in the opposite direction it had come. The last few steps of the first staircase were short. Forming a gap that the climbers could slip through.

From there, the second staircase overlapped the path the first had taken. They were taking the long way straight down.

They passed five more landings over the next six hours. The stairway swapped directions each time. Eventually, Toriel had to summon a ball of fire to light the way. Alphys also had the foresight to bring a high powered headlamp. She kept it pointing at the stairs so everyone could see where they were putting their feet.

When they came to the seventh landing sans held up a hand and stopped them.

"This is the last one before we reach the city."

The monsters looked at one another. No one wanted to say it, but they were all tired and hungry. Sans didn't know about the rest of them, but he hadn't stopped to eat since his second dinner the night before.

Toriel lowered her fireball to the ground. Turning it into a campfire. Backpacks were removed from shoulders and the company settled into a loose circle around the flames.

Bedding for the night was unpacked. Papyrus handed sans a sleeping bag he had brought for him. Sans thanked him, though they both knew he could sleep practically anywhere and on anything.

Fortunately for all involved, Toriel insisted on doing the cooking. She had packed a veggie pot pie that only needed to be heated up. She gently nudged the pan into the ball of fire magic. The flames circled around it. Staying just far enough away to avoid accidentally lighting it on fire.

"I wonder if Asgore is keeping everyone's hopes up?" Toriel asked. Sitting back on her unfolded sleeping bag.

"Well, he does have Mettaton with him." Alphys said. "At the very least they should be able to distract everyone until we make it back. Err…. If we make it back."

"Of course we're going to make it back! But I'm not leaving until I've kicked the ass of every single jerk responsible from one side of The Abyss to the other."

"What matters most is getting Frisk to safety." Toriel reminded her. Then after a moment's thought added. "There will be plenty of time for revenge later."

"Do you think she's doing alright?" Papyrus wondered aloud.

"Are you kidding? Of course she is. Frisk is a tough girl, and she's got experience falling into dark holes full of monsters." Undyne said.

"She's plenty tough." Sans agreed. "But if she could handle it on her own, she would be back by now."

The cracking ball of fire magic sparked and popped. Toriel fitted a pair of oven mitts over her paws and lifted the pie from the magic ball.

"sans, why don't you start telling us that story you promised?" Toriel suggested. She placed her mitts down and sliced the pie into five pieces with a dull butter knife.

Sans nodded and sat up. He crossed his legs, rested his hands in his lap, and cleared his throat. Then when he couldn't possibly delay it longer, he launched into it.

"Okay, so… the reason I think it's not because Frisk is a princess…" sans paused to make sure they were all listening. Undyne was leaning so far forward, she was in danger of burning some scales off. While Papyrus was clutching at his camp pillow in the way he did when he was worried a story might turn scary.

"I think it's a trap. A trap for me specifically." Sans said.

"Ha! You? You're kidding!" Undyne started laughing, then abruptly stopped when she realized no one else was. "You're not kidding?"

"But, if they want us to visit them, why didn't they just ask? There's no need to go around kidnapping people." Papyrus said.

"That's not how they do things in The Abyss Pap. Besides, I don't really want to go." sans replied.

"Why not?"

Toriel dished the pie out on five plastic plates and handed them out. The conversation paused until each monster had a plate and a fork.

"Well… how much do you know about demons?" sans asked.

There was a silence from the other monsters. The unexpected change in topic throwing them for a loop. Toriel shook her head, indicating she didn't have anything to add. So the focus of attention shifted to Alphys.

"Um. I- well. A lot actually. But mo-mostly from anime. They're um… they're big on using catholic themes." She explained.

"That's, uh, close… it dates back about that far. So some of the traditions are similar." Sans sad.

He didn't really know where to go from that point, so he took a bite of his slice of pie. It was surprisingly rich, full of sweet potato and squash. Since it was monster food, he metabolized it instantly. It brought back a little of his strength.

"Look, let's just cut to the chase then." Sans decided. Pausing to put his dinner back down. "The underground has kings and queens. The Abyss has a demon who rules it."

"But demons aren't real? A-are they?" Alphys said.

"Who knows? Maybe it's not a demon. Maybe it's a rare form of monster. Doesn't really matter. They believe in it, and they're willing to do quite a lot in its name. Kidnapping, included." sans explained.

"sans I still don't understand. What do they want with you?" Papyrus asked.

"Well, a demon has got to eat too, right?" Sans replied. He gave his brother a calm smile. But it didn't do much to reassure him.

"That's horrible." Toriel gasped.

"sans…"

Papyrus dropped his pillow and was staring at his brother. His expression caught between fear and shock. Knowing his active imagination, sans would bet Papyrus was imagining him being lowered into the mouth of a gigantic black dragon with fifteen rows of needle-like teeth.

"It's okay pap I promise that will never happen. After all. Who would you have to look after if I was gone?"

Sans patted Papyrus gently on the back. Papyrus whined and snatched his brother up into a bone crushing hug. One of sans' slippers fell off. Sans hugged his brother back, though his arms didn't really have a hope of reaching even half way around his brother's chest piece.

"I hate having to even consider this. But can't they just use someone else?" Toriel asked.

Papyrus put his brother back down, but kept one hand gently resting on sans' elbow.

"No idea." sans replied. "I assumed after all this time they had found a replacement. The way they are, they won't be short of volunteers."

Sans fixed his clothing, giving him an excuse not to look at the other monsters while he explained the next bit.

"There's a lot of power and respect tied into the, ah, honor, of having your soul slowly eaten alive. There's always some poor sucker who will fall for it."

"Does this demon have a name?" Alphys asked. "Knowing the true name of a demon is supposed to help you defeat it."

"That's the sticky part. It steals the name of the last sentient thing it consumed. Then it depends on the loved ones of that person to call for it. Their desperation to see that person again keeps it rooted in this world. That, and a good old demonic contract forged in the dust of a hundred kings."

sans realized he was getting off track. Finally getting to explain this to someone after years of keeping it to himself was going to his head. At this rate, it was all going to come pouring out and that wouldn't help anyone, least of all Frisk. It would distract from the mission at hand, and besides, Papyrus didn't need more nightmare fuel.

"Anyway. You can see why I wanted to go alone. This whole thing is my fault." Sans said.

"Nonsense. The only people at fault are the monsters who kidnapped Frisk." Toriel said. Her tone had a motherly kind of sharpness to it. Like she was warning him not to eat cookies before dinner time. sans met her gaze.

"When I lost my sons. I spent years asking myself how I could have allowed it to happen. I second guessed every action, made a list of my failures and blamed myself for each and every one of them. My fear and guilt grew, but it never helped me save any of the children who passed through the ruins. When Frisk came, I was so desperate that I almost trapped her in with me. Just so I wouldn't have to know I let another one die."

Toriel sighed deeply. The other monsters sat as still as statues. No one knew what to say and they wanted to give the queen all the time she needed. She very rarely spoke of her children, except for Frisk.

"Frisk taught me how to let go. To forgive myself for the past and think of what I can do, not what I failed to do. And that's why I'm here. Why we're all here."

"Hell yeah!" Undyne shouted.

Toriel startled, her mouth hanging open for a moment before she realized what Undyne meant.

"Ah. Yes. Heck yeah!"

She raised a closed paw over her head. Papyrus an Alphys joined in too.

"Yeah, I don't care if they are other skeletons. I'm not letting anyone eat my brother."

"Uh. Thanks Papyrus."

* * *

 

Frisk had shared quite a lot of extremely awkward cups of tea in her lifetime. Far more than her fair share if you asked her.

Her head still hurt, but Verdana had assured her she wasn't suffering from concussion. How exactly a skeleton monster from the abyss knew what a concussion was, never mind knowing if she had one, was anyone's guess though.

"Oh, I have so many questions I don't even know where to start!" Verdana said.

She dropped a few spoonfuls of some yet unexplained black pounder into her mug and offered the bowl to Frisk. Frisk turned it down with a shake of her head.

"That makes two of us I guess." Frisk replied.

Verdana stopped halfway through a sip of her tea and slammed her mug down. Some of the ash colored liquid sloped out the side and onto the folding plastic table.

"Oh my god! How rude of me, of course you do! Let me guess, you want to know how long you've been out and where you are?"

Verdana leaned closer to Frisk and Frisk leaned in the opposite direction.

"Ah, sure?" she said.

"Well, you were asleep for about four hours human time. And this..."

Verdana paused and stood up, sweeping her arm around to gesture to the room at large.

"-is my laboratory!"

Frisk felt obligated to take a moment to reassess her surroundings. They were sitting in one corner of the room, in a kitchenette area. There was a huge sink full of dirty beakers and dirty plates. Beyond that, the kitchen appliances were limited to a kettle, a microwave and a mini fridge.

The rest of the room was lined with the kind of sturdy benches you expected to see in a laboratory. Every spare inch of counter space had been claimed by some kind of experiment. It looked like the Bunsen burners and test tubes were an invasive species of plant life that had completely taken over.

A small cot was shoved up against the far wall. Rounding out the last of the furniture that could be charitably described as 'homey'.

It had taken Frisk a while after walking up to figure out what about this laboratory bugged her so much. But eventually it dawned on her how out of place this building was compared to everything else she had seen so far in The Abyss. Running water, actual electricity, building materials besides stone.

Frisk was getting the feeling that the residents of The Abyss weren't just trapped in the past. Someone or something was keeping them there.

"It's nice…" Frisk said.

"Isn't it though? This is where I keep all my most critical experiments. You know, like you!" Verdana said.

She moved so fast her lab coat flew out behind her like a tail. She stopped next to a large circular indent on the floor and pointed at it with her foot.

"Look, this is where your tube used to be! I kind of misjudged how heavy it would be. I probably should have left it in the basement, but after what happened with Chara… Well, I didn't want to take any chances."

Frisk stared at Verdana. She was pretty sure she understood all the words that had come out of her mouth just then. But how they fit together or what they meant was beyond her. She didn't even know how to start asking questions.

"What."

Verdana blinked back at her. She looked just as shocked as Frisk felt.

"Frisk, you…. You don't remember me?" Verdana asked.

She sounded so heartbroken. Frisk found herself suddenly feeling guilty.

"ah… no…" Frisk replied.

Frisk sunk low in her seat, as if she were trying to hide under the table.

"Oh."

Verdana wrung her hands together.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I guess I just assumed after you tried so hard to save me."

Verdana shook her head. She stood still for a moment. Then, without warning, all her energy came flooding back. She smiled widely at Frisk.

"It's alright. You weren't supposed to remember anything. So, this just means it worked!" Verdana said.

"Only, this is going to make it hard to explain everything to you."

She rested her skull in her hand for a moment, drumming her fingers against her cheekbone.

"Oh, I know! I have your baby photos around here someplace. Let me just grab them."

Verdana dashed off, diving down between the benches in her rush to rifle through the drawers underneath. When she couldn't find what she was looking for, she leapt over to the cupboards above the kitchen sink. As soon as she opened the doors, a huge chunk of paper tumbled out.

Verdana dodged out of the way and they hit the floor, scattering pages all over. They all looked hand written, but with a huge variation in writing style. Some of the notes had clean pinched lettering. Others a loose scrawl that took up a ton of the page.

Most bizarre of all. Some of them seemed to be written in code. Frisk recognized the pictograms, but somehow that only made it more confusing. There were astrological signs, hand gestures, human religious symbols, and... An airplane?

"Here they are!"

Verdana slammed a pile of documents on the table. Frisk had to grab her mug to stop from spilling all over it.

It looked like a perfectly ordinary office file, except for her name scribbled on the front in black marker.

Frisk hesitated. While her conscious mind still had no idea what Verdana was jabbering on about. Her subconscious had started to fit some of the pieces into place and it didn't like where this was going on one bit.

She opened the file. It was full of nothing but Polaroid pictures of a huge glass tube full of milky white liquid. Each one had a running tally of days written under it. There had to be at least a hundred of the pictures each with a few months' time lapse in-between. As Frisk flipped through them, she noticed something growing inside the tube. First it was just a tiny jumble of stuff. Then it was clearly a human baby. Then a toddler. Then a small child. She was curled up in her tiny prison. Her eyes shut tight.

She had short brown hair and a face that Frisk recognized. It was the same girl who looked up at her from Toriel's beloved photo albums. But this was all wrong. She didn't belong in a place like that.

The last few pictures the girl was finally free from the tube. She was dressed in a striped sweater and was sitting against a wall. Her eyes still shut tight. She looked barely alive at all, just an empty shell. Then there were no more pictures.

"You refused to open your eyes and you never spoke one word to me. But I always knew you were in there someplace. You just hadn't had a chance to explore the world yet." Verdana said.

She was leaning over Frisk's shoulder. Frisk wanted to shove her away, but she couldn't gather her thoughts together long enough to do it.

"They wanted as blank a slate as possible. So you'd make a better vessel for Chara to take over. But they couldn't just summon her directly into your body like before. They had to lay you on Chara's grave and hope her personality would fill in for your lack of one."

"S-shut up." Frisk stammered. She pushed away from the table, sending the plastic chair flying. Verdana didn't seem to notice. She was too wrapped up in hearing herself talk.

"But it didn't work! Despite having lived your whole life in a tank. You still managed to assert yourself and resist. And after all this time you've matured into a fully functioning second personality who-"

"Shut up!" Frisk screamed.

This time Verdana heard her just fine. She turned to face Frisk, her eye ridges knitted together in confusion.

"Look. How dumb do you think I am? And for that matter, what are you trying to prove?" Frisk said.

She grabbed one of the pictures and held it between her fingers as if it was the tail a dead rat.

"We also have photo editing on the surface you know. You really think I'm going to believe I was made in a lab? Like a fucking science experiment?"

"I don't think you're dumb, I'm not trying to prove anything, and yes." Verdana replied. Addressing each of Frisk's questions in order. She gave Frisk a critical look, studying her closely.

"Oh, I know what this is! I read about it in my human psychology textbooks. You're going through the five stages of grief." Verdana said.

She smiled wide and clapped her hand together in excitement.

"What comes next… anger! Yes." Verdana pulled a small moleskin book and pen out of her lab coat pocket and started scribbling in it.

"Are you feeling angry?" Verdana asked. "Maybe rate it on a scale from one to ten?"

"Yes! I mean no. I mean… Stop taking notes!"

Frisk snatched the book from Verdana but she simply produced another identical book from her coat and picked up right where she left off.

"Let's go back to talking about your memories. I understand not having any. But it's just possible your brain managed to make up new ones to fill in the gaps." Verdana said.

"If you weren't born in my lab, where were you born?"

Frisk wanted to scream the answer, but when she reached for the information, nothing came to mind. She lived in new-new home, and before that in the underground, and before that, nothing.

"That's... Lots of people don't remember where they were born." Frisk said. She backed away from Verdana. She really didn't want to be here. Even more than before.

"Okay. Where did you grow up then? How did you end up in the underground? What were your parents' names?"

Verdana wrote her questions down as she asked them. Frisk tried to answer each one, but only hit the same roadblock.

"You! Did you do this to me? Why can't I remember?"

Frisk's fingers dug into the notebook in her hands. Her voice getting louder and more desperate with each question.

"I see. So not false memories, just strong dissociation. I suppose no one ever forced you to consider these questions before?"

Frisk lifted the notebook over her head and flung it at Verdana's face. She didn't even wait to see if her attack hit its target before making a break for it. The mechanical doors swung open for her and she ended up in a long hallway that went in two separate directions. Verdana yelled something after her, but Frisk was not listening. Picking at random, Frisk turned left. She didn't know where she was going, but anything was better than staying in there.

As she ran, Frisk's vision started to blur. She rubbed the tears out of her eyes, forcing them back so she could see where she was going.

Frisk missed her friends. She missed them so much.

She wanted Toriel to hold her and call her 'my child'. She wanted Undyne to wake her up at 6am for a run. She wanted Alphys to beat her at fighting games. She wanted Papyrus to give her a pep talk about giving 210.4%. She wanted Asgore to offer her a piggy back ride. She wanted Mettaton to sing pop songs into hairbrush microphones with her.

She wanted to slide her arms between sans' hoodie and his shirt. She wanted to rest her head on his shoulder and press her chest against his ribcage. She wanted to breathe in the scent of dry bones and hear his calm voice wash over her.

If only she had sans around to tell her everything was alright. Hearing it from him was the only thing that could make her believe it.

The ground dropped out from under Frisk's feet. She hadn't seen the stairs till it was too late. She flipped forward landed on her back and slid a few steps.

Frisk lay panting and aching all over. The edge of the concrete steps digging into her back. She didn't hear anyone chasing after her. Maybe she had gone in the completely wrong direction. Or maybe backup was still coming.

Frisk stood herself up. She reached out for the wall to help keep herself up and made her way down the stairs.

They emptied out at the bottom into a huge open room. Frisk fumbled at the wall near the open doorframe to find a light switch. She felt a button under her fingers and jammed it down.

The lights came on. Starting at one end of the room and progressing to the other. Frisk found herself standing in a mechanical graveyard. Huge machines lay dormant all around her. Some were covered in sheets, but all were covered in a thick layer of dust.

Frisk carefully weaved her way through them. She couldn't even guess at what they might be for. They didn't look dangerous. No guns or metal claws. Just variations on boxes with control panels.

One of the biggest machines looked like someone had jammed a hundred metal fans all together and run them off a single gigantic axle. It looked terrifying, but Frisk recognized the bulbous shape. It was a power turbine. The kind that turned steam into electricity. Like you might find in a coal or geothermal power plant. There had been plenty of ones just like it in the core.

Frisk kept walking. She was looking for an emergency exit. You had to have one in a workshop like this. Unless you were okay with all the workers burning to death if something caught fire. Not that she wouldn't put that past them.

Frisk noticed the shadow on the ground first. She followed it up and her eyes settled on a hunk of reddish metal hanging from the ceiling. The shape made her heart skip a beat. Instinct kinking in before recognition hit.

Frisk was eight years old again. Stumbling around a dark laboratory, stalked by shambling amalgamates. She stopped dead in her tracks, gazing up at the jaws of the determination extractor.

It looked different than how she remembered it. More round and with smaller eyeholes. The thick tubes that wrapped in and around the machine like a life support system, dangled all the way to the floor.

They attached to machines that split the large tube into many smaller ones. They were threaded through the top of a huge glass cylinder. Frisk recognised this part too. But the memory was far fresher.

The tube from the photographs Verdana had shown her. But there were two of them here.

Frisk knew she should turn and run back the way she had come. But just like with the office file, her curiosity was a tiny bit stronger.

Frisk reached her hand out and her fingertips met the hard glass of the right cylinder. It was huge. It could still hold her, even at her adult height. She could have been trapped in there her whole life.

She could still hear it. The faint chugging of liquid being forced through filters. The omnipresent humming of electricity. A small and dark world, full of agony.

Frisk fell to her knees on the concrete. She was aware of a pain from the impact, but she didn't care.

From the glass, the faint outline of Frisk's reflection smiled at her. Without the dark tint of the obsidian mirror you could see the ruby glow in her eyes.

"I made us forget those memories for a reason."

Frisk shoved her hands over her ears and closed her eyes. But nothing could shut out that voice.

"Humans are awful creatures. You should be proud not to be one."

"Shut up!"

Frisk slammed her fist into the glass. The convex surface was inches thick and her best effort simply bounced off with nothing to show for it but sore fingers.

"Very well. But Just remember, my princess. Your time as the one making the decisions is coming to an end. Use it wisely. When my turn comes, all of this world will be nothing but dust beneath our feet."

* * *

 

Sans sat bolt upright. The transition between sleep and wakefulness coming so fast, flashes of his nightmare danced in his vision before fading away.

Torel's flames were burning low. it was a testament of her skill in magic that they were burning at all while their caster was asleep. Sans counted the sleeping bags of his companions. Everyone was still there.

Sans lifted his hands to rub at his eye sockets, but something was holding his right one back. Sans looked down and saw the skeletal fingers closed tightly around his wrist.

"Papyrus?" sans whispered. Leaning over to nudge his brother.

"Nya?"

Papyrus stirred and lifted his head from his pillow. His movements awkward and groggy. Papyrus didn't sleep much, but when he did, he slept like the dead.

"What's with the hand holding, Is something wrong?" sans asked.

"No, I just wanted to make sure you didn't leave."

"What? Papyrus, come on. I would never…"

Sans caught the look his brother was giving him.

"Ah. I guess you're right."

Papyrus rolled over onto this stomach and pushed himself up on his free arm.

"I know that Frisk is really special to you, and that waiting around for the rest of us must be awful. But we need to stick together." Papyrus said.

"Frisk is special to all of us." Sans replied.

sans turned away from Papyrus and stared out over the edge of the platform. Out into the endless darkness of the abyss.

"Yeah, but…"

Papyrus abandoned the sentence halfway through. He had tried to get sans to open up about his relationship with Frisk many times and in far less dire situations. It hadn't worked then either.

Sans was so adept at letting things wash over him that even Papyrus sometimes forgot about the complexity hiding just under the surface.

If you ever asked sans. He made it quite clear there was nothing to talk about. They were just a couple of best friends giving dating a try. Nothing serious.

But the thing about sans was, if he could be bothered to do something, he would put his whole heart into it. Papyrus admired that in his brother, and it was one of the reasons he had adopted that same attitude so thoroughly.

He hadn't heard sans say the L-word in regard to Frisk. It was still there though. Hovering just out of sight.

"Sans. We're going to get her back. I know we will."

From anyone else those words might have rung hollow, but Papyrus was just that optimistic. He believed it with every bone in his body and maybe a few that weren't.

"I know. But for now, we should both get back to sleep."

* * *

 

They found her lying on the floor, curled up in the shadows cast by the determination extractor.

"Frisk!" Verdana called.

She rushed forward, but Zaglo caught the collar of her turtleneck and halted her in mid-step. The two guards they brought with them went on. They each took one of Frisk arms and hulled the limp woman to her feet.

Frisk opened her eyes halfway. She didn't struggle, but refuse to do anything that might help her captors either, forcing them to carry her.

"Did you guys ever hear of the two skeletons who lived in a town full of snow?" Frisk asked.

Her voice was rough and quiet, and her eyes were rimmed in red circles. She waited for a moment, but no one answered her.

"They were a couple of real numbskulls."

Frisk giggled to herself and she was carried back towards the stairwell.

"Keep her locked in her cell from now on." Zaglo said.

Verdana nodded, her eyes still fixed on the place where Frisk had been curled up on the floor.

"Yes, father."

Zaglo left with a swish of his robes, following his henchmen out of the laboratory basement. Verdana stayed where she was, frozen to the spot.

"N-numbskulls…?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Verdana doesn't understand
> 
> She's lived her life in a plastic can
> 
> A perfect assistant I thought she'd make
> 
> If only that was my worst mistake
> 
> Sans is a superior replacement
> 
> \- G


	3. Teach me How to SAVE the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Human folklore would have you believe  
> That those who aspire to succeed  
> Sometimes find knowledge meant  
> To reach beyond mankind's intent  
> Dr. Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde  
> And more that I could name besides  
> Meddle not human, for you are flawed  
> And shall incur the wrath of God  
> Fire and brimstone, thy will be done  
> My secret?  
> I didn't play god, I was one
> 
> -W.D. Ga****

The black city loomed on the horizon. It had looked much smaller when it had first come into view. but now the party was standing on the chasm floor, the true scale of the city was starting to sink in.

A winding gravel road connected the bottom of the massive chasm staircase to the front gates of the city. At a glance, it seemed to be just under a mile away. Only about a fifteen minute walk if they hurried.

"So, what are we waiting for? Undyne asked.

"Well, we can't just walk in, can we?" Alphys said.

Attention shifted to sans. Even Undyne was starting to realize it was best to defer to him.

"If it were just Papyrus and I, sure. But as far as I know, no other monster species have been this far down before. It would draw a lot of attention, or worse, start an all-out panic." sans said.

sans started pacing in small circles as he spoke. He dragged his slippers in the dirt, pausing to look at every shallow hole he made before moving on.

"Alright, fine. Then what's your plan?" Undyne asked.

"I'm looking for something. If you want to help, start digging and let me know if you find anything."

The party split up. Each wandering away in a different direction as they searched. Undyne stabbed ruthlessly at the dirt with one of her spears. Alphys made clever use of her tail by swiping it across the dirt. Papyrus diligently got on his knees and pushed over some large boulders to check underneath. While Toriel gently dusted patches of dust away with her paws.

"Hey, uh. I think I found something!"

Everyone came over to where Alphys was digging. She kept brushing with her tail. Something shiny and metallic stuck out more and more with each pass.

Sans gently pushed past her. He knocked sharply on the flat panel. It sounded hollow. There were markings inscribed in the metal that Alphys was looking over.

"These… I have no idea what these mean. They sure aren't runes." She said.

Sans jammed his finger into a tiny gap below the markings. Something clicked, and part of the metal panel slid back to reveal a keypad. Sans' fingers hovered over the glowing green buttons numbered 1 through 9, his face a mask of concentration.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Undyne asked.

"I'm trying to remember the code." Sans replied through gritted teeth.

"What, seriously?"

Alphys obligingly reached over and pressed a hand over her girlfriend's mouth. Anyone else probably would have gotten a few fingers bitten off for that, but since it was Alphys, it did the trick for now.

Sans pressed the 1 key seven times. On the eighth press, the panel took the code and a red light flashed. So much for the easy way. Whoever had picked the code clearly didn't subscribe to sans theory that the simplest codes were also the best.

Sans tried a few more combinations in the hope that muscle memory might be able to give him some hints. Each button, when pressed, made a slightly different pitched beep sound.

Papyrus started humming softly as he watched sans try button combinations.

After almost a dozen failed attempts, Papyrus spoke up.

"Sans, do you mind if I try?"

"Uh. Sure, I guess."

Sans moved out of the way to let Papyrus lean over the pad. Papyrus started humming again. It was a simple tune. Two four note patterns that were almost identical, except for the last one.

The second time through Papyrus hit the buttons in time with the notes. The beeping of the control panel sounded slightly out of tune. He tried again, and again, until he found the correct pitch.

The light flashed green and the panel started to move. The five monsters had to jump out of the way to avoid falling into the hole that appeared as it slid back.

"Way to go Papyrus!" Undyne shouted, pulling Alphys' hand from her mouth.

Papyrus looked just as stunned as everyone else that he had managed to open it. But he recovered quickly.

"Ah, no need to thank me! All in a day's work for puzzle master Papyrus."

sans sat on the edge of the hole. Dangling his legs into the dark void. Before anyone could stop him, he pushed off and dropped down. There was a heart wrenching second, then a thud.

"Sans!" Papyrus called.

Muffled swearing drifted out from the darkness. Then sans called back.

"All clear! It's not far. Just make sure you land on your feet."

The other monsters followed. Toriel and her fireball first, then the others once the space underneath was lit.

The group found themselves in a rock tunnel. There was a ladder leading up to the metal panel, but there was a huge section torn out across the middle. As if some gigantic beast had bit down on it and yanked its head back.

Apart from the ladder, there was a primitive set of metal tracks that lead down the tunnel. Oil lamps hung from the walls, but they had long since burned out.

"This won't take us into the city, but it will get us close without being seen." sans explained.

This time the party walked a fair bit slower. The cramped spaces in the tunnel made it much harder to light the way ahead. No matter how far Alphys shined her lamp, there was always more darkness stretching out in front.

"Hey pap, how did you know the code, anyway?" sans asked. Slowing down a bit to fall into step beside his brother.

"I don't know. I just got that song stuck in my head suddenly. I thought it might be worth a shot to try it.

"And you don't remember where you heard it first?"

Papyrus thought about it for a bit.

"I think you taught it to me."

Sans nodded. He didn't remember that at all. But it didn't mean it wasn't true.

* * *

 

Why are you doing this? Why do you hate humanity so much?

* * *

 

Thankfully, the ladder at the other end of the tunnel wasn't broken. Papyrus went up first and punched in the code again, opening the way for the others.

The room above was huge and full of dark shapes. Closer inspection revealed that they were dormant machines in varying stages of disrepair.

"Oh my, what a mess. I don't think this place has seen a broom in quite a while." Toriel observed.

Alphys slowly gravitated towards the nearest machine. Her curiosity getting the best of her.

"We should split up and look for the exit." sans suggested. "And try not to touch any-"

Alphys' scream cut sans off mid-sentence. Everyone jumped, looking around wildly for the threat.

The beam of Alphys' headlamp illuminated one of the machines hanging from the ceiling.

"No! No, no, no, no…"

Alphys was backing away, her hands clutching at the front of her lab coat. Her claws nearly ripped the material.

"Whoa. Alphys calm down." Undyne said.

Undyne threw herself at Alphys, taking hold of both her shoulders and holding her at arm's length so Alphys could focus on her and not the machine.

"Undyne, that's a determination extractor!"

"So? Don't you have one of those in your lab?"

"You don't understand. Mine is supposed to be the only one! No one else knows about determination. Or they shouldn't. They can't… what if they..."

A hum of electricity filled the air, followed by the florescent lights turning on. The sudden brightness after a whole day in darkness was extremely disconcerting and cut Alphys off mid panic.

"Hey! Is anyone down there? I heard screaming."

The voice that cut into the stunned silence sounded surprisingly calm. sans grabbed Papyrus around the wrist and waved to the others to get out of sight. Undyne picked Alphys up and jumped behind a nearby machine, while Toriel grabbed one of the sheets and ducked under it.

Footsteps echoed as the new arrival made their way through the rows of machines. A female Skelton, dressed in a blue turtleneck and a lab coat, rounded a corner and saw the two brothers in the same moment they saw her.

She gasped, sans cringed, and Papyrus didn't really know how to feel.

"sans?!" Verdana shouted.

She sprinted over to them, dropping the flashlight she had been holding.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again!"

Her smile was so wide that Papyrus found himself smiling too. Even though he had no idea what it was she was happy about. Verdana looked from sans to his brother, assessing Papyrus up and down.

"And this must be… wait, let me guess, Papyrus right?"

"Ah, yes! But how-"

"It's so nice to finally meet you! Sans talked so much about you when we used to work together. It was so adorable! My name's Verdana."

Verdana took Papyrus' hand and shook vigorously. She was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Verdana we don't have time for this-" sans said. But he was cut off just as quickly.

"You're here for Frisk, aren't you? I should have guessed. She made the worst pun earlier. I thought it was just a coincidence, but-"

sans knew the only way to get Verdana to answer questions was to talk over her. So he raised his voice and interrupted.

"I said, I don't have time for this right now. So I'm going to need you to shut up, and tell us why the high priest wants me back."

Verdana blinked at sans. Incomprehension plastered across her face.

"Father wants you? Really? Why would he want anything from you? Why would you…"

Then suddenly it snapped into place and Verdana clapped her hands together.

"Oh, because of Frisk!"

Verdana shook her head.

"That's just a big coincidence. I mean, how was I supposed to know you would end up making friends with my creation. I- oh... there are more of you?"

While she had been ranting, the other monsters had started to lean out of their hiding spots. Verdana stumbled backwards at the sight of them. One of them was covered in icky scales, while another had claws, and there was even a huge furry one with pointy horns.

"Listen you." Undyne said. She took two quick steps forward and summoned a glowing blue spear. She shoved the business end into Verdana's personal space.

"If you know where Frisk is, you better tell us."

Verdana skittered backward, she lifted a hand in self-defence, summoning a bone attack and holding. It hovered in the air between her and Undyne. It looked like she was planning to use it to fence with. Though, her sloppy stance and inexpert handling would guarantee a disaster. Verdana seemed to know it too. Her magic was trembling in time with the rest of her.

"Father took her to the cathedral about an hour ago." Verdana said.

"Shit..." sans hissed.

He pushed past Verdana, dragging Papyrus along behind him. Taking the hint, Alphys and Toriel followed after him. Undyne kept her spear pointed at Verdana as she backed towards the staircase leading out of the laboratory basement.

"Wait, sans! I was going to tell you all about my latest project." Verdana called.

She chased after them, but couldn't get too close without risking Undyne's spear taking up new lodgings in her ribcage.

"Not now, Verdana." Sans replied. Keeping his back firmly in her direction. Papyrus gave her an apologetic smile and a shrug.

"But I finally cracked it! I know the secret to making a human soul!"

Sans paused. One of his feet resting on the bottom of the stairs. He grit his teeth together, firmly holding himself back from taking the bait. Unfortunately, Alphys had no such defense prepared.

"You- you can't do that!" Alphys stammered. "You can't create a soul from nothing. It violates the laws of conservation of soul energy!"

Verdana tilted her head to the side. She hadn't been expecting the lizard thing to chime in. Still, she would take any interest she could get. She perked up. Gesturing wildly as she explained.

"You would think so, right? But humans do it all the time! They do the mating ritual, then fertilization occurs, then nine months of gestation and you've got yourself a fresh soul! No transfer of energy required!"

Alphys stared at Verdana, her mouth hanging open in stunned shock.

"B-but that would mean creating sentient humans just to harvest their souls." Alphys said.

"Um… yes?"

Verdana's smile faded as she noticed the looks of disgust or shock on the other monster's faces. Was it something she said?

"Alphys…" Undyne murmured. She took hold of her girlfriend's arm and squeezed. Alphys nodded and turned away from Verdana. The party started climbing the stairs.

"Wait!" Verdana shouted. Rushing forward to the foot of the steps to catch up. "It's about Frisk and why Zalgo had her kidnapped. If you're going after her, you should know what's going on!"

Sans swore under his breath. He would almost prefer to risk going unprepared. But not with everyone else depending on him.

"Can you make it quick?"

"Yep. Just let me get my pictures!"

* * *

 

They will abandon you once they know the truth. They'll be disgusted. Everything they ever thought they knew about you was a lie.

* * *

 

The linoleum table in Verdana's lab was covered in the week by week development record of project Frisk. She had just finished giving a very abridged lecture about the more interesting challenges of the project. With special attention paid to the mechanics of soul binding demons and human hosts.

While she had been talking, her five guests had been completely enraptured by her brilliance. Or, At least that's what Verdana assumed, since no one had said anything. Or even looked at her.

There was a lengthy pause. And surprisingly. The first one to speak ended up being the large furry woman.

"But… why?"

"To replace Chara mostly. Chara was my pilot project." Verdana replied. She had found Chara's file earlier with the intent to show it to Frisk. But Frisk had refused to talk to her, so she hadn't got the chance.

Verdana spread the next batch of photos out on the table on top of Frisk's. Lining up the developmental stages so the differences between the prototype and her second attempt were more obvious.

Toriel gasped.

"They were both made from the same strain of DNA, but Frisk has several improvements on Chara. Mostly so we didn't have a repeat of the yellow flower incident. I mean it was kind if pathetic, having to depend on the stupid underground royalty and their gullible son just to get enough power to break the barrier. The great one deserves far better."

Verdana paused mid-rant and leaned closer to sans.

"Hey, um, is there something wrong with that goat lady? She seems kind of angry?"

* * *

 

.............

* * *

 

"Sans?"

"Yes, Papyrus"

"I don't think I like Verdana very much."

Sans passed a bundle of black robes to Toriel. She shook the garment out and pulled it over her head. It was a tight, but it fit well enough to hide her white fur and horns.

"That's okay Pap. I don't like her either. I wish I could say she's not like the others, but..."

Sans was tugging his own set of black robes on over his hoodie. There had been many different sizes hanging by the entrance to Verdana's laboratory, but they were all made for skeletons. Toriel and undyn were more-or-less okay, but Alphys' tail kept poking out the back of her robes.

"This is why I'm glad you don't remember living here. The abyss does shitty things to people. It's the Isolation. Well, that, and the bloodthirsty demon."

Alphys adjusted the fall of her robe again. Trying to find a way to tuck her tail up so it didn't bulge out. Undyne leaned over to help, making creative use of the belt around her hips to tie it up.

"So, uh, do we actually have a plan?" Alphys asked. Her cheeks were practically glowing red with embarrassment as Undyne worked on her backside.

"Get to the cathedral. And hope like hell we find Frisk, and that she's feeling like herself." Sans replied.

"And if she's not?" Papyrus asked.

"I'll think of something."

It wasn't the most comprehensive answer in the world. But it was the best they had. Sans plans had been torn to shit the moment he realized it wasn't him they were after.

For better or worse, it was time to fly by the seat of their collective pants.

"I still can't believe anything that awful woman said could be true." Toriel said. "My sweet innocent child."

"Even if it is true. She's still our Frisk. No matter where she came from. That, and we can all get group therapy after we rescue her." Sans said.

The laboratory door opened slowly, sliding upwards into the ceiling. The party stepped out into an empty room with a dusty floor and black stone walls. When the door shut behind them, they could see the opposite side was painted to look just like the other three walls. It clicked into place, leaving them in the abandoned house.

There was another door on the opposite side from the hidden one, the narrow opening covered by a bolt of black cloth. sans pushed it aside, peeking out through the tiny gap. A moment later he returned to the group. His expression mixed.

"I've got good news and bad news. Good news, were only a few hundred meters from the cathedral. Band news, it looks like they're having a party. Everyone is out in the streets."

The fleshier monsters exchanged worried looks. The more eyes there were, the higher the chance someone would notice they were a little on the plump side for skeletons.

"Papyrus and I will go first. With any luck they'll see us first and gloss over the rest. Just remember to keep your heads down and walk fast."

They settled into formation and stepped out into the streets. sans hadn't been lying. It really did look as if every monster in the city was out today. and they were all clustered around the steps of the cathedral.

Several children were playing tag around the feet of a worried-looking group of female skeletons, standing in a loose circle and chatting in hushed voices.

Other circles of peer groups were dotted about the town square. But the largest group was gathered to listen to a skeleton in long robes reading aloud from a weathered book with a spine covered in gemstones.

The language he was speaking was foreign to the surface monster's ears. But the hushed silence from his listeners made it clear it was some kind of sermon.

They followed sans' lead as he wove them through the crowds. He tried to keep them as far away from the skeleton monsters as possible. But as they approached, the cathedral the crowd grew denser and it got harder and harder.

Sans approached the steps from the far edge. But a skeleton standing at the side of the archway leading into the cathedral noticed them. He quickly put himself between sans and the doorway, holding out a hand to halt their progress.

He said something in the language the others didn't speak. Sans replied in kind, then switched to English.

"Verdana sent us. She has a message for lord Zalgo."

Sans' voice sounded strange. Deliberately horse, and a few octaves deeper. His hood was also pulled as far forward as it would go.

"He is not to be disturbed, the ritual…"

The other skeleton was suddenly distracted by something just behind sans' shoulder. He turned and saw Alphys tottering backwards and forwards on her feet, doing a reasonable imitation of a drunken sailor.

"Alphys." Undyne hissed. Grabbing hold of her girlfriend's shoulders and holding her still.

"Undyne! It's my tail, it's coming loose." Alphys whispered in a panic.

Undyne bent over and snatched at the back of Alphys' robes. Alphys squeaked and her tail slipped free. It hit the obsidian stone with a resounding thud. All three feet of glorious golden scales sticking out of the back.

The skeleton who had intercepted them screamed and stumbled backward. His cry alerted the other guards stationed around the entrance to the cathedral. Within seconds, they were surrounded. The hooded skeletons preparing magical attacks.

The five monsters in the center fell into a loose circle of their own, covering each other's backsides. Undyne hooted with joy. She tore off her hood and summoning her own spear, overjoyed to finally have someone to use it against.

"Come and get it you demon worshiping freaks!" she jeered.

Toriel summoned balls of fire, Alphys produced an energy weapon, and Papyrus readied his own set of bones.

The only one who didn't make a move was sans. He just stared out under the rim of his hood at the other skeletons.

"None of you have the right to lay hand on us." He said, speaking loud enough to be heard over the reactions of the crowd around them as they realized a fight was about to break out.

In one smooth movement, sans lowered his hood. A collective gasp went up around the assembled monsters. The magic attacks vanished, the would-be assailants to shocked to keep their focused up to hold them.

"I wish to challenge Zalgo in single combat. As is my right. All of you. Stand down."

sans spoke with a calm authority that gave even Toriel a moment's pause. Without another word, all the skeletons in long robes fell to their knees and prostrated themselves. Bowing so low their skulls touched the ground. Some Skeletons in the crowd below followed suit. Mostly the older ones it seemed, while the teenagers and children looked on in confusion.

"sans?" Papyrus asked.

"Let's get inside. Now."

Sans pushed his brother into the open archway of the cathedral and the others hurried to keep up. The cathedral was empty except for two figures all the way at the other end of the nave. One was lying prone on the altar, the other standing over them.

"Frisk!"

The cry came from the five monsters almost in unison.

Frisk was laying on her stomach on the obsidian altar. Her cheek pressed against the stone and the skirt of her nightgown draped over the side. Her eyes were closed, her body unnaturally still. The skeleton monster standing over her was holding a silver dagger in one hand and a book with a jewelled spine in the other.

Undyne sprinted ahead. Screaming at the top of her lungs and tossing two spears in rapid succession. A shield of bones rose from the floor, deflecting the blue energy bolts. The projectiles vanished and repaired in Undyne's hands.

The other monsters were hot on her heals, but there was a lot of distance to cross. The thirty seconds it took was more than enough time for Zalgo to skip right to the end.

He struck. Plunging the silver knife into the prone human on the altar. Frisk didn't scream, or even flinch. The only sound was that of metal striking stone as the blade tip impacted the altar under her back.

The silence was soon filled up by Toriel's scream and the hiss of flames as a massive volley of fireballs joined Undyne's assault. The bone shield caught those as well, but the projection was starting to waver. Magical energy bleeding off as it collapsed under the constant battering.

Sans' eye were fixed on Frisk. The silver dagger in her chest was melting. The seemingly solid handle dripped black goo onto Frisk's chest as it rose and fell with shallow breaths. She also wasn't bleeding. The front of her dress should have been soaked through by now.

Turning his attention from Frisk, Zalgo addressed the intruders.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

He walked around the altar, meting the surface monsters as they reached him. Alphys loosed a shot from her energy gun and Papyrus joined her with shower of bones.

Zalgo had his full attention now and summoned two more shields to block them both. They hovered in the air around him as a personal bulwark.

"Unhand my child this instant!" Toriel roared.

She charged at Zalgo, apparently trying to bulldoze over him to get to Frisk. Zalgo stood his ground, bringing his shield around and the whacking the queen broadside with it, knocking her tail over teakettle. She landed on her back at the feet of her companions.

The direct assault wasn't working. Undyne bent down to help Toriel to her feet. The five monsters stood together. Cowed out of their charge, but still more than ready to fight.

Behind Zalgo the knife in Frisk's chest had all but vanished. Even the black goo covering her chest had faded away. She seemed alright, but her eyes were still closed.

Zalgo stared straight at sans, a mix between a sneer and a grimace crossing his face.

"I should have known you would choose this moment to return. After all the work I've done, you would arrive at the last moment and try to seize the power of the great one for yourself." Zalgo said.

Zalgo gestured to the other monsters at sans' side. Undyne tried tossing another spear just in case, but it was blocked.

"Then just to cap it off, you send others to fight in your stead? How utterly pathetic." Zalgo added.

Sans fingers curled into fists by his sides. He took two steps towards Zalgo. You could feel the tension ratcheting up several notches.

"I'm not here to fight Zalgo. We're here for Frisk. Let her go, and maybe I'll consider letting you walk away." sans replied.

"Chara will take this vessel any moment now. You, nor I, haven't a hope to control her. The new world is dawning." Zalgo's gaze unfocused and he began to pace back and forth. A few more projectile attacks were sent his way, but apparently insane rambling didn't dull his reflexes.

"Perhaps this is a gift. To perish in single combat, or to prove myself one last time. Chara will reward me just the same, and I might get the pleasure of seeing lord sans crumble."

Zalgo cracked a cruel smile in sans' direction.

"Very well. Despite your transgressions I will accept your offer. At least, once I get rid of your troublesome knights."

Zalgo dismissed his shields. He dropped the book he was holding and raised his hands to counterattack. The stone floor at his feet began to glow with white light. Runes appeared, painted in outlines of magic on the floor. They stretched out like tendrils of an incredibly fast growing vine. They stretched towards sans, and the others.

"Get back!" sans yelled.

One of the runes made contact with Toriel's foot and she screamed in pain. Sans' left eye flashed and gravity shifted. Toriel, Alphys Papyrus and Undyne were thrown backwards. Colliding with the floor again as gravity righted itself. Sans apologized to them in his head. Bruised was better than burned although.

The lines of runes finally reached sans. When they came in contact with this field, they started to climb up his ankles, ignoring the various layers of clothing he was wearing. Sans could feel them thrumming against his bones. On him the white glow turned into a steady translucent blue. Most of the marks were hidden under his hoodie and robe, but he had nothing to hide four symbols on the palms and backs of his hands.

Once they got to his neck the symbols became thin lines that curled over his cheekbones and around his eye sockets. The final mark rested on his forehead. A double cross set above a figure eight. sans left eye lit up. All of his hidden power dragged to the surface by the ancient spell.

Across from him the same was happening to Zalgo. Black runes crossed his hands and arms, but they were not clean like sans'. Some edges were crooked and the black energy spilled out over the edges. Not all souls could handle this power and it was clear Zalgo was starting to come apart the seams. No wonder he was so willing to throw himself into a hopeless fight.

Behind sans, Papyrus had gotten to his feet. The ruins painting the floor formed a circle around sans and Zalgo, marking the edge of a barrier. Similar to the spell that had locked the underground. Not one to give up without trying, Papyrus slammed his fists into the barrier. It didn't budge.

"sans!" Papyrus yelled.

Sans risked a glance over his shoulder so he could show Papyrus he was still smiling.

"It's all right. I can take him. Just be ready to get to Frisk the moment the barrier comes down!"

sans knew he was going to have a hell of a lot of questions to dodge when they got out of here. Dirty secrets always came back up eventually. Only time would tell how Papyrus reconciled the sans he was about to see with the dorky pun-making brother he knew.

Sometimes even sans couldn't really tell which sans was the guise and which one was real.

But he knew which of the two he needed to be right now.

Sans' attack was lightning quick. No one even saw it till Zalgo was flying backwards into the barrier. Sans followed it up with another. A spinning disk made of bones crashed into the stone inches away from Zalgo's shoulder as he rolled to dodge it.

Zalgo summoned his shield again and staggered to his feet. Sans calmly raised a hand above his head. A whistling noise filled the air and Zalgo's shield exploded in a shower of bone fragments.

Sans repeated the attack. His single bone attacks moving too fast for the eye to see. They hit like a thunderclap. Sending out a shockwave that even the monsters standing on the sidelines felt.

Zalgo dodged and counterattacked. A linier barrage of bones bore down on sans. Without so much as flinching, sans stepped to the side. The attack whipped passed his head and shattered harmlessly on the barrier.

"Holy shit!" Undyne exclaimed. "Papyrus your brother is freaking killing it. Did you teach him that?"

Papyrus had both hands pressed against his mouth, biting down on his fingers as he watched. He shook his head no, not daring to take his eyes off of sans.

"Please be careful!" Toriel called.

It was sans' turn to attack. The symbols etched into his bones reverberated with power. The spell was starting to kick in. It would bestow raw magical energy in equal shares to Zalgo and himself.

With each moment that passed, the attacks would grow stronger and more deadly, until one of them fell and crumbled to dust.

Sans couldn't hold back even if he wanted. Casting spells opened the flood gates and he could only hope to direct the tide.

A bolt of blue energy shot from Sans's fingers. It hit Zalgo in the chest and sent him flying. Sans' instincts urged him to hit Zalgo again while he was on the ground, but another hit like that might…

Black fireballs honed in on sans. He took a large step to the right and another back to the left, threading the needle through the assault. The heat coming off them stung like all-get-out, but it didn't count as a hit.

Still, it was only a matter of time before something did count. Sans needed to end this now or Papyrus was going to need a replacement brother.

As a general rule, sans avoided running. He felt that most things weren't so urgent that you could afford to take your time. There were, however, exceptions.

Sans charged Zalgo. Sprinting with his head down, eye light fixed on the floor in front of him. Zalgo focused his magic into a gigantic fireball and hurled it at sans.

Or the empty space where sans used to be.

Everyone must have chosen that exact second to blink. Because the next thing they knew, sans was standing right in front of Zalgo.

The next bolt of lightning hit at point blank.

Zalgo fell to his knees and clutched at his ribcage. Sans prepared a final attack. The runes sang, flooding the victor with power and urging him to make the kill.

"Sans, don't!"

Papyrus' voice cut through the noise. sans froze, the trigger for the spell primed.

Papyrus didn't understand. The barrier would keep them both trapped until there was only one left. Mercy wasn't an option. The battle field was cutting off their access to Frisk. They needed to get to her to make sure she was alright.

The memory of Zalgo stabbing her in the chest was still painfully fresh. Lethal or not, he deserved to die.

Sans risked a glance over his shoulder at Papyrus. He had both hands pressed against the barrier. He looked so worried. Or, was that fear?

The others were looking on. Toriel had her paws curled up under her chin. Alphys was hiding behind Undyne clinging to her hips, and only daring to watch the fight with one eye. Even Undyne looked unsure. Despite everything, they didn't want to see anyone die. Even him.

Sans lowered his hand. The glowing marks burned. The spell writhing as its rules were bent. Sans grit his teeth, ignoring it.

Zalgo stared up at sans.

"So you won't do it?" he muttered.

Zalgo cracked a smile. It looked like it hurt. He probably hadn't tried it in hundreds of years.

"You're every bit like him. No wonder he chose you."

A flash of silver arched through the air. Zalgo's eyes widened and he doubled over. A dagger buried in his back.

"I have control now. You may die."

Zalgo's soul wavered for a moment, then crumbled into dust.

The barrier broke. The symbols vanished. The power flooding through sans ebbed away. The loss compounding the feeling of dread as he met the deep crimson eyes of the woman standing by the altar.

It wore Frisk's skin, but no one could mistake the two. The unnatural expression, the light but purposeful gait of her walk, and most of all, the impassive smile. Sans' could feel the aura of pure hatred radiating off her. An undirected loathing for everyone and everything.

She walked over to the pile of dust and robes that used to be Zalgo. Sans held his ground, not willing to concede even an inch to her.

"I was hoping you would have the guts to kill him sans." Chara said. She kneeled to the ground and brushed the dust aside, retrieving her weapon. It was the same dagger sans had seen Zalgo stab Frisk with.

"I miss your killer instinct. It was always so intoxicating. But now you make promises to simpering old ladies and dote over that pathetic mess you call brother. It's very disappointing."

"Hey demon-thing, stop possessing my friend!" Undyne shouted.

She and the others came up behind them. Sans motioned for them to keep their distance.

"Oh good, everyone is here. I won't have to bother tracking you all down to kill you..."

sans moved so he was blocking Chara's view of the others. He needed to keep her attention on him. Luckily Chara seemed happy to comply. She was sizing him up in a way that made sans feel like a prized chew toy.

He just needed to keep her talking. If she was talking, she wasn't killing anyone. Hopefully.

"Chara, hear me and obey. As Zalgo's successor and high priest, I order you to release the human." Sans intoned. He circles around Chara as he spoke making her move constantly in order to keep her eyes on him.

"That's Cute. You remember your training. It's a Shame the contract has been broken. That might have actually worked." Chara replied. She flipped her knife in her hand. Tossing it up and catching it by the handle.

Sans' eye ridges furrowed. Chara giggled. She rested the tip of her knife on her bottom lip and gave sans a sarcastic pout.

"My kind always keeps their word. But monsters? They do stupid things. Like ripping they're soul into millions of tiny fragments and scattering themselves through all of time and space. You see, if there's No soul for me to collect, there's no contract. No contract, and I go free."

If sans had a reaction to this, he didn't let it show. Chara grit her teeth, but the anger was short lived.

"I'm disappointed you don't remember me. At least not in person. Then again, you also can't remember how to fix that machine of yours. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Having a loved one erased from the timeline does such funny things to mortals."

sans shrugged at Chara. He wasn't about to try to match the knowledge of an omnipotent creature. Even if she did know all the answers to the questions that plagued his past, he was not prepared to pay the cost attached to that information.

Chara sighed. Losing interest in her toy now that he wasn't playing along.

"So, shall we fight before or after I murder all your friends?" Chara asked, taking a purposeful step towards sans.

A flicker of red light and Frisk's soul appeared. Signalling the start of a battle. The tiny heart was glowing much fainter than it should have been. She was still in there, but trapped behind a lingering darkness.

"Frisk. If you can hear me, just stay calm. I won't let Chara hurt anyone." Sans said.

"We'll see about that, won't we?" Chara shot back.

With no further warning, Chara lunged at sans, her knife clutched tightly in her hand. Her heart turned blue, gravity shifted, and Chara tumbled sideways. She hit one of the obsidian columns and slid to the floor.

Toriel cried out. She looked like she was about to run over to the fallen human, but sans cut her off.

"Stay away from her!"

Under any other circumstances Toriel wouldn't have listened. But they could all feel the hatred coming from Chara. It repelled monster souls on an instinctual level, like the hiss of a poisonous snake.

Once again the other four were forced to watch as sans fought.

Chara was quick to gain her footing. The long skirt of her nightgown didn't seem to slow her down at all. Sans summoned a wall of bones. Some coming up from the floor, others floating in midair. All aiming for her soul. Chara dodged them, adapting with only a quarter second warning as her soul changed from blue to red and back again.

Eventually she reached sans and struck. Barely missing him as he sidestepped her.

"This is such bullshit." Undyne spat. Her whole body tensing when one of the combatants had a particularly close call. "He can't keep this up forever."

"We have to do something." Alphys agreed.

Papyrus was making a face. You could practically hear the gears turning in his mind. Then, his eye sockets widened as it hit him.

"Frisk is still in there somewhere right? We just need to reach out to her. If anyone can stop this it's her!" he said.

Chara was gaining ground. Even while sans sent her soul and body flying in the opposite directions. She was moving unnaturally fast and her reflexes were inhumanly precise.

"You're pulling your punches sans! Where are those delightful toys you cannibalized my power to make?" she shouted.

Chara's ruby eyes locked on Papyrus and she smiled.

"Maybe you need a little encouragement?"

Chara broke away from the fight and made a run for the other brother. Knife raised above her head.

A huge skull with piercing white eyes and three horns blocked her path. It opened its jaws, bearing razor-thin pointed teeth. Chara threw herself to the side. A mechanical roar echoed through the cathedral and a beam of blinding power exploded from its mouth.

Chara sat panting on the floor. Her smile so wide it looked like it hurt.

"So, now the real fight begins." She muttered.

Chara rose and lifted her left hand. Black fire leaped from her fingertips, pooling into a tight ball. It looked like one of Zalgo's magical attacks. But no human should be able to wield monster magic. It broke every rule in the book.

"You're not the only one with special tricks. Let see you dodge this!" she jeered.

She tossed it overhand, the fireball growing into a raging inferno as it flew. A floating skull appeared behind sans, showing its teeth.

The rush of white light hit the back fire. For a second the two forces pushed against each other with equal force. The skull opened wider, the roar rising to ear splitting levels as the power increased. The fire flickered and died, finally overwhelmed.

While Chara had been watching another skull floated up behind her. She heard the warning sound and threw herself to the ground, but it was already too late.

When the blast cleared, Chara was lying in a small circle on the ground. Frisk's soul floating over her. The stone floor all around her was smoking gently.

Sans had missed on purpose.

Chara laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

Sans grit his teeth. Looks like he was officially out of delaying tactics.

"You really can't bring yourself to hurt your beloved Frisk? Even though you know exactly what will happen if I win?" Chara barked. Struggling to breath between her mocking laughter.

"Or is it because you know that if you kill me, I'll come back worse? And next time you won't be prepared or even remember why!"

Chara got to her feet. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, gripping the handle of her knife with both hands.

"Frisk says she's sorry, by the way, sorry that she can't stop me. I wish you could hear her screaming. It's hilarious!"

This time, at last. Chara got a reaction. The pain she saw in sans' blue eye made her heart skip a beat. Now. Now she would kill him. This was truly the perfect moment.

"Don't lose hope my child!"

Toriel's voice cut through Chara's tunnel focused attention on sans.

"Yeah! Don't you dare give up! I know you can beat her." Undyne added.

"If anime has taught me anything, it's that the power of friendship conquers all. Especially demons!"

"The great Papyrus believes in you Frisk!"

Chara rolled her eyes. Maybe she could spare a moment to wipe out the peanut gallery. She started to prep another fireball, but gravity shifted first.

Sans reached out a hand and snatched the blue heart from the air as it flew passed him. Both his eyes were shut tight, bracing himself for pain that never came.

Sans opened his eyes and gazed down at the ball of energy clasped in his bone fingers. Normally Frisk's soul burned like fire, overflowing with everything that made her Frisk. It made it impossible for a fragile monster soul to interact with directly. But now it was cold and almost lifeless.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Chara spat. "Give that back!"

Sans fixed his gaze on her, his glowing blue eye fading back into his usual pinprick eye lights.

"So, Chara, I've got a question for you. Do you think even the worst person can change? That everyone can be a good person, if they just try?" Sans asked.

Chara growled. She lifted her weapon, but they both knew she wouldn't attack while sans was holding her stolen soul.

"Because I'll tell you what I think. I think that somewhere inside you there's still the glimmer of a good person. Well, more than a glimmer. I'd call it a raging supernova."

Sans closed his other hand around Frisk's soul and pressed it against his chest. He closed his eyes, concentrating every ounce of willpower he had to reach out to the soul in his hand.

"Frisk, can you hear me? I think it's time for you to come when your name is called. Come back to me."

"No one is coming." Chara said. "She can't-"

The blue tinted soul flashed. Its dim glow growing brighter and brighter. Sans cried out as the warmth spiked, burning his hands. Desperately, he locked eyes with Undyne.

"Catch!"

Sans tossed the glowing bundle at her. Undyne jumped to grab it, screaming out a swear word as it burned her hands. She tossed it to Papyrus, who had a similar reaction and threw it to Alphys, who passed it to Toriel who threw it back to sans.

Chara screeched in anger. But her attempts to attack simply resulted in that monster getting possession of Frisk's soul next and falling under its protection. Within seconds, the whole thing devolved into a demented version of monkey in the middle. Only with the 'monkey' being a murderous psychopath and all the participants running around to avoid getting cornered.

It didn't take long for Chara to tire of this madness. She stood in the center, panting heavily. Eyes wide open.

She could sense that sans was starting to tire. Two fights in a row and now more running.

Sans could feel Chara's gaze on him. She was waiting for him to slip up.

Chara started moving towards him and Papyrus lobbed an overhand shot in sans direction. sans reached out for Frisk's soul. It passed through his fingertips and hit the stone with a soft tinkle.

The silver knife flashed, cutting sideways across sans' chest. A cracking sound filled the air. Then, a scream as Chara keeled over.

Frisk's soul fell back to the ground after its jump. A large crack stretching across its surface.

Sans snatched it up. Frisk's soul was cold again. The crack started to spread, forking out into smaller ones.

"Oh fuck."

Sans closed his fingers around the heart, putting pressure on it to hold it together. Papyrus ran over and added his hands, pressing against the parts sans couldn't reach alone.

"Sans what's going on!" Papyrus asked.

"I don't know, I think Frisk is the one doing this. The first crack wasn't that bad."

"Frisk, stop this instant! You're scaring us!"

On the ground in front of them, Chara writhed.

"You bitch!" she screeched. Scratching at her own chest with her fingernails, her knife all but forgotten on the ground beside her.

Undyne, Toriel and Alphys soon joined the brothers. Each added their own paws, fins, and claws. Frisk's soul all but disappeared under the combined attention of her friends. Each doing their part to hold it together.

But it refused. The cracks kept spreading. They could feel it coming apart in their hands.

"Idiot. If you lose your will to live, we both die. No resets and no do-overs." Chara hissed. She forced herself up into a sitting position, hands still pressed to where her soul would have been. "You would throw it all away just to save them this once?"

The crack that came from Frisk's soul was loud enough to be heard even over all the monster hands covering it.

"God damn it! You can't do this to us Frisk. We came all this way to get you back! And I am not going home empty handed!" Undyne shouted.

"Please Frisk. I can't… not again… we need you, I need you." Toriel stammered, Tears starting to well in her eyes.

"There has to be another way. We can fix this. All of us!" Alphys added breathlessly.

"F-Frisk..." Papyrus choked. Unable to get the words out through his tears. His shoulders shook, but the hands of the other's held him steady.

sans took a deep breath.

"Frisk, just in case… I-" sans' voice cracked. He took another breath. "I-I love you. I'm sorry I didn't say it out loud before. But it's always been true. You… you mean everything to me."

Another audible crack. There was nothing but shards now. Held together by sheer force of will.

"Alright, you win."

Chara had stopped moving and was curled tightly into a ball, her chin resting on her knees.

"Just remember, little wretch, watch yourself around your reflection. Because those eyes you see watching you back? They are mine, and one day, I will be the one on the other side of the glass once more."

With that last threat, Chara closed her eyes. The cruel smile dropped from her lips.

When those eyes opened once more, they were brown. Without the faintest trace of red.

Frisk's soul vanished from under the combined fingertips of her friends. The damaged soul returning to where it belonged.

Frisk smiled, her sweet little grin night and day when compared to Chara's.

She lifted a hand and reached out to her friends, then promptly passed out. Her limp body sprawling to the cathedral floor for the second time in as many days.

The last thing she heard was the combined cry of her friends calling her name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sans tried to warn me I was lost  
> He never forgot about the cost  
> Black magic and technology  
> With both I would set them free  
> It gave me the power to create  
> A magic from the matter state  
> And with that secret I built the core  
> A feat I could but dream before  
> Perhaps I should have paid more attention to my nightmares?
> 
> -W.D. Gaster


End file.
